were crazy.....
 

i think us real hard core turkey hunters are really sick in the head....not the weekend warriors that hunt a day or 2 out of the year.....im talking the guys that sleep dream and breath turkey all year long.....and hunt every day possible......i think we are nuts because of what turkey hunting does to us.....we spend hours and hours in the woods before the season looking for the birds.....many mornings locating the roost.....and pre season here can be very chilly.....then the season opens....rain shine hurricane tornado blizzard or 110 degrees im going hunting on the opener....i dream about the day all year.....then theres the getting up early......REAL early.......i work till 11 sometimes 12.....and get up anywhere from 3am-5am depending on where i hunt.....normally its 330 and we drive an hour and 15mins to our spot.......and thats going on only a few hours of sleep...not even good sleep because you cant wait for morning....tossing and turning sleep.....then theres the walk in......i walk alot when i turkey hunt.....i walk more in turkey season then i do in deer season.....my spots are usually deep in and im always chasing a bird if i cant get one to come in....then theres the weather.....freezing cold......downpours....thunderstorms....wind like you wouldnt believe......scortching heat.....heck one day it even snowed when me and dad were spring gobbler hunting....then theres the not eating way past when your hungry.....food and water weigh too much for me to pack when im hunting.....theres the sleep deprivation....i went turkey hunting before school the other day and made it to school on time.....then theres the things like leaving family friend wives girlfriends ect ect out of our lives for the season.....we dont mean too........it just...happens.....and sooo much more that us hardcore turkeyhunters do......and why?? just for a lousy deformed feather that turned into a wannabe clump of hair and some goofy looking toenail things.... and one turkey dinner for your family?? i know theres way more that drives me to do these crazy things.....the excitement when you hear that first gobble at daybreak....the feeling you get when you sit there and wait for him to decided to fly down.....the feeling you get when you try to coax him into range....then the feeling you have when its all history and your tagging him......being in the woods with people you care about most....like dad...brothers...family.....friends ect......and sharing these feelings......i know many of you guys understand where im coming from.....at first it might sound like im complaing......but im not.....i absolutely love turkey hunting.....my seasons over and im looking for a reason te get back out there already.....help dad hunt.....take friends out........ahh my season isnt over.......i just got my bird already!!! i thought of how crazy we are when i hiked up and down a GIANT hay field hill.......hay upto my knees......at 5am......i was soaked to my knees.......and standing there freezing.....i just smiled......then the bird went off.....and i knew he was the one....and my knees got all crazy and i started breathing heavy......i knew i had to act quick because that was the one......and when i tagged him i was still smiling ear to ear...soaked to my waist now....with a soar but and my arm fell asleep from holding my gun up and i couldnt feel it.....and when i grabbed him i got all bloody.....but im still smiling....normal people dont do these things........i think were all crazy!!!!!!!!! good luck this season guys.......dont goto the doctor......i dont want them to find out theres tons of us.......i dont want cured!

RE: were crazy.....
 

You said it mauser. We are all CRAZY. I'm just glad to have found a group that I can be crazy with and when I talk about these things, someone (a lot of someones) understands.;)

RE: were crazy.....
 

same here.......turkey crazy....

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OH im def. possessed by the turkey devil , although i havent tagged a bird yet , i found myself in my girlfriends backyard tonight owl hooting to find a bird .... everyone was lookin at me like i was retarded , but they dont understand it jsut fuels my fire .... as a good buddy stan potts would say lol:D

my dad has to work alot this season so im takin myself out in search of the ilusive tri toe, hopefully this weekend

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;)

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...I WAS CRAZY,BEFORE I STARTED TURKEY HUNTING.....[X(][X(]

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Born crazy here too!!!:)

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Turkey hunting is the funnest thing to do here on this earth. Mauser, you explained it great!!

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hahaha i knew you guys would see it like i do.....you try to talk to normal people that dont turkey hunt about why we do the crazy things we do and they justsay your nuts....i talk turkey all year...making calls and tuning them and playing with them trying to get diffrent sounds.....it helps me make it through......and i found myself getting into fall hunting pretty hard last year.....id love to bag me 2 longbeards a year!!! but when theres alot of hens in the spring i dont mind taking a hen out of the area....man....i cant wait to get back out there.......yelp yelp yelp yelp...gobble obble obble!

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My 7th grade students thinks it's absolutely rediculous that I get up at 4 in the morning, go hunt turkeys, and still make it in to school by 7:30. Then they have to suffer through my stories all day. The nice thing is, those first 2 hours in the morning are often the most active!

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Not to try and take all the craziness away from the turkey hunters, as generally you guys are nuts;), but you guys sure aren't alone. You can't deny some of the nutty actions and sacrifices of a hardcore bowhunter or even a predator hunter. I'm sure you have to consider waterfowl guys nuts for sitting in icewater waiting on ducks. Heck I've gone out late nights only to get 1 or 2 hours sleep and get up and go trout fishing. The passion that is the OUTDOORS, is what's special, in what ever form it may take.

RE: were crazy.....
 

Much less crazy than ANYTHING THE GOV'T DOES!

RE: were crazy.....
 

yes i guess outdoorsmen period are crazy......ive done it to go fishing standing in icewater while its raining running one 4 hrs sleep and an empty stomach......deer hunting i sit in a foot of snow while snow falls and covers me...running on a couple hours of sleep and not much to eat......im crazy all year.....ill go catfish till the wee hours of the morning in the summer....so i guess it is safe to say outdoorsmen are pretty much all a bunch of nuts..........and im proud im a nutcase.......it just dawned on me yesterday turkey hunting......barely any sleep...no time to eat....up early to climb a mountain and get soaked from my waiste down....then sit there and try to kill a turkey.......even if i didnt kill that bird i would still be smiling....any day in the outdoors is a great day.......

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You are right on Mauser06 I was a die hard deer hunter. Till I took up Turkey hunting over 25yrs ago, and I love it now as much as I did when I started. And now I have the Greatest hunting partner my 14 yr old son. To enjoy it with, and at his young age he has 4 toms under his belt . I still can remember his frist Bird he got, he didn't understand why I had tears in my Eyes I told him someday He would.....

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I realized it this year, when I took my Dad on his first ever hunt, being we have always Elk and Deer hunted he kept asking me" we're goin up that ridge for a bird?" as we were looking at about a 1000ft climb;). Well heck ya I answered didn't you here that gobble?

But I do have to say, yes we're nuts, not just the turkey hunters but sportsmen in general, I remember the time I was trout fishing up a river, and I wanted to get to a different stretch of river, it didn't really dawn on me until I realized I had my tackle box tied to my belt, by fishing line and my pole in my teeth. I was aproximately(sp.) 200 to 300 feet above the river, scaling a rock out cropping[:o][8D][&:]

All that for a 12 inch cutthroat? Yikes!!!

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mauser,i have a feeling when you typed that message,it was not scripted but spontaneous and from the heart.igot goosebumps reading it and printed it to show my hunting buddies.i think all of us relate.good luckand good health.

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MAUSER06,,,,, YOU HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD[8D] WE ARE ATE UP!!!! BUT YOU GOT TO LOVE IT:):D;)

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it wasnt really thought of....i was sitting there that day waiting for the birds to fly off the roost......and i thought about how crazy we must seem to other people.....im sitting there....6am....after climbing a HUGE hill just to go down the other side(around is MUCH easier....but the birds will bust you before you get there) i was soak and wet from the tall grass i walked through on the hill.....i worked till 11 and didnt get to bed till 12 or later....and up at 445am....then i thought about how many times ive done much more then that.....up at 3am driving to the mountains on 2 hrs of sleep walking atleast a mile or 2......all that just for a bird......something about the outdoors just drives me(us) nuts i guess.......im glad dad got me into the outdoors instead of football or baseball!! and my dad knows that i truely love it.....my days off he doesnt know what i do.....he just asks how many fish i caught......or in hunting season what did i get and what did i see......he knows theres nowhere else i rather be in my spare time.....deer season he fights me every year telling me i have to leave the fishing pole behind......if i drive this year it IS coming!!!! why waste a perfect sunday sitting around camp when i can drive down the road take a nice walk through the woods ill hunt the next morning and do some fishing for some native brookies.....they gota eat all year round..........im glad i found these boards.....if i didnt id think i was the ONLY crazy one.....glad to see i got all you crazyies here with me!

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Excellent reading......thanks for sharin' ya'll.......i saw a gobbler today with 2 hens struttin', gobbling at 2 in the afternoon.....he was hot...i stopped some tourist and told them what he was and what and why he was doing it, they were in awe, out came the video camera.....they were so excited and they didnt even know what it was, that's like the next best thing to a hunt for me.....